HEALTH

Hepatitis C Virus: Prevent or be damned! 
Parmindar Singh

Noida, May 12
Hepatitis C Virus is one of the important causes of two major fatal liver diseases, namely, cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. Acute infection remains silent for several years till the liver is damaged due to an irreversible state when the patient falls into a state when he has fluid in the abdomen, less urine outputs, vomiting of blood, black stools, very poor appetite and when he slips into a coma followed by death.

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine to prevent Hepatitis C as we have against Hepatitis B. The strategy of prevention of Hepatitis C and HIV-AIDS is the same. Some action is being taken under international pressure but very little attention is being given to prevent liver diseases related to Hepatitis C.

These views were expressed by a galaxy of specialist doctors from different national institutes and hospitals, who presented their findings and recommendations at a panel discussion organised under the chairmanship of eminent Dr B N Tandon Padma Bhushan of Metro Hospital, Noida.

Implementation of community-based education has been emphasised by the American experts as the most essential component of the total strategy. India has 15 million Hepatitis C infected persons, and therefore, there is a greater need to establish and aggressively implement community-based education for Hepatitis C through public forum panel discussions.

Early detection of acute infection and follow-up of these persons can prevent long-term serious chronic liver disease and cancer. The persons who receive repeated transfusions for blood disorders, those who undergo major operations or non-operative interventions such as cardiac and bone procedures etc, those who take repeated dental treatment and the workers in blood banks, laboratories, operation theatres, haematology and gastro-enterology wards, patients on chronic kidney dialysis and cancer therapy are at high risk for HCV infection.

All the preventive measures should be strictly implemented.

The type of C virus in India is not so dangerous as in the USA, Europe and Japan. Success rate of treatment for the HCV-related chronic hepatitis is more than 80 per cent. The decision of treatment is based on some scientific criterion which must be explained to the patient.

Many persons with mild disease due to HCV infection may not require any treatment. The cost of a six-month treatment of HCV chronic hepatitis is about Rs 3 lakh which further emphasises that prevention is better than cure.

Hepatitis C infected blood is 30 times more infectious than HIV infected blood. Blood banks must rigidly implement the following principles for the collection of blood from donors: (i) only voluntary donors should be registered; (ii) donors with a history of jaundice and chronic liver disease should be excluded and; (iii) donor must be HCV antibody negative by the third generation Elisa test. It should accept the blood and blood products such as plasma and platelets for transfusion.

The implementation of safe disinfection practices is the second most important topic for public education.

The HCV-infected mother can transmit the disease to the newborn if the delivery is not conducted with full precautions by the obstetrician. Infected husband or wife can rarely transmit the disease to partner if blood or blood-stained secretion of the infected persons is not prevented to open bleeding site of healthy partner.

Community education for HIV is being implemented seriously. The same must be done for Hepatitis C and B.

Informed public and media should meet and demand this from the government and the medical experts, it was stressed.

Surgeons stress better trauma care
Ravi S. Singh
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, May 12
The surgeons laid stress on better management of trauma care for the patients in view of the accident-prone life of today’s fast moving world. Speaking at a symposium here on the occasion of ninth annual conference of Haryana Surgeons Association, the panelists said that trauma care has now evolved as a full-fledged field in medical sciences. However, the concept of trauma care and centre has to catch up in most parts of the world, especially India.

The conference, organised by the recently constituted Gurgaon chapter of the Association, was attended among others by Dr Ravinder Singh, Director, Medical and Research Education, Punjab and Prinicipal, Medical College, Patiala.

Dr Singh was the chief guest on the occasion. Various aspects of trauma like its concept, head injury, imaging in trauma, chest trauma and abdominal trauma were the themes in the symposium.

Dwelling on the theme ‘Concept of trauma centre’, the main speaker, Dr R.K.Kanwasra, Head of Surgery, PGIMS, Rohtak said that trauma has now emerged as a global problem.

According to him, trauma centres should be an integrated system of trauma care rather than an isolated trauma hospital. He lamented that on the whole, the concept of trauma care had not matured in India. However, he said that Haryana was ahead of other states on the issue as it was opening trauma centres along the highways.

According to him, the centres should have specialised infrastructure and be manned by the trained staff in trauma care.

Others who spoke on different aspects of trauma care include Dr Naveen Chitkara from PGIMS, Rohtak, Dr Vijay Arora, HoD, Surgery, SGRG, Delhi and Prof M.Mehta, HoD, Surgery, SMS Medical College, Jaipur and Dr D.C.Katiyar who once was a surgeons with Batra Hospital, Delhi.

More than 180 surgeons attended the conference. Dr Suresh Vashista, the organising secretary of the Gurgaon Chapter of Haryana Surgeon Association said that the formation of an association by surgeons of Gurgaon has been a good development both for themselves and the patients.

He emphasised that there must be pious relations between the doctors and the patients.

SPORTS

Shastri Club move into quarter-final
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 12
Lal Bahadur Shastri Club defeated Young Friends by 32 runs to enter the quarter-final of the Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Khalsa College ground.

Shastri Club, electing to bat, piled up 216 for 7 in 40 overs with skipper Dilip T T leading from the front, with a spitfire knock of 27 off 42 balls with two boundaries.

Swamik Chatterjee (46, 5x4, 1x6, 52b), Gaurav Chabra (37, 2x4, 43b), Sanjay Rawat (29) and Dharminder also chipped in with substantial contributions. Dilip and Swamik put on 80 runs for the opening wicket in 14.3 overs to give Shastri Club a sound start.

In reply, Young Friends, after a promising start, floundered to be all out for 184 in 38.3 overs. Nitin Aggarwal, Amit Nehra and Dilip bowled accurately to claim two wickets each. Left-arm spinner Ashutosh Sharma scalped three wickets for 38 runs in 7.3 overs.

Scores: Lal Bahadur Shastri Club: 216 for 7 in 40 overs (Dilip T T 27, Swamik Chatterjee 46, Gaurav Chabbra 37, Sanjay Rawat 29, Dharminder 25, Honey 15, Sandeep Malhotra 3 for 30).

Young Friends: 184 all out in 38.3 overs (Hargobind Singh 21, Bharat Khurana 60, Rahul 13, Ratan Rawat 12, Wasim Raja 25, Rakshit Pant 20, Nitin Aggarwal 2 for 34, Amit Nehra 2 for 33, Dilip T T 2 for 33, Ashutosh Sharma 3 for 38).

ONGC bag Millennium Cricket cup
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 12
The star-studded Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) defeated Rajdhani Sports, Rajouri Garden by 47 runs to lift the Millennium Cup Cricket Tournament title at the Harbaksh Singh Stadium. Delhi Ranji Trophy player Varun Kumar top-scored for Rajdhani Sports with a well-made 61, studded with six boundaries while Rajeev Uniyal contributed 44. The star performers for ONGC were Rahul Sanghvi, Amit Mishra and Ajay Ratra.

International umpire Ram Babu Gupta gave away the prizes. Delhi and District Cricket Association director Sunil Khanna and international umpire S K Bansal were also present.

Ajay Ratra was named the man of the match while PMS Reddy of Air Force was named the best batsman. Rahul Sanghvi received the best bowler award while Amit Sharma pocketed the best all-rounder award.

Malviya Club win title

Malviya Club, Delhi beat K G Gymkhana of Delhi by five wickets in the final of the 19th RBSC International Sixes Cricket Tournament held in Bangkok.

Scores: K G Gymkhana Club: 48 for 3 (Manvinder 22, Vipan 18, B Nair 2 for 19).

Malviya Club: 52 for 1 (Padamjeet Sherawat 34 n o, Harminder 14 n o, Vikas 1 for 20).

Modern Child Academy

Veteran cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar will inaugurate the Modern Child Cricket Academy at the Modern Child Public School ground, Punjabi Basti (Nangloi) on Tuesday. Kulwinder Singh will be the coach of the academy.

Lion Kanishka emerge B Division champs

Dashing batting displays by Anup Rana (74), Varun Vikrant (68) and Rajkapoor (50) and deadly bowling by left-arm spinner Sant Ram (4 for 39) and Sanjai Saini (3 for 35) helped Lion Kanishka beat Three Star by eight wickets to win the DDCA B Division League title at the Central Secretariat ground. Scores: Three Star Club (1st innings): 205 in 51.1 overs (Rajesh Rana 75, Sant Ram 4 for 39, Sanjay Saini 3 for 35, Vivek Verma 2 for 38). Second innings: 185 for 8 in 30 overs (Pushpender Singh 76, Prayag Raj 22, Sant Ram 2 for 36).

Lion Kanishka (1st innings): 321 for 7 in 60 overs (Anup Rana 74, Varun Vikrant 68, Rajkapoor 50, Deepak Bahl 3 for 43). Second innings: 74 for 2 in 16.4 overs (Varun Vikrant 35 n o, Amanjeet Singh 21).

Veterans cricket

The fifth National Inter-State Veterans Cricket Championship will be held at different centres of the country from May 15 to 18. The semi-final and final will be played in Delhi from May 15 to 18.

Christel House Open Golf Tourney on June 16
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 12
The Christel House Open Golf Tournament, an international charity event, will be held at 19 golf courses across the world on June 16. Over 3,000 golfers will tee off from 19 premium courses located in four continents.

The entire tournament will be completed in a unique “same-day play format”. The tournament courses are located in Austria, Canada, England, Germany, India, Mexico, Portuguese, South Africa, Spain and the United States.

The first tee-off will be held in India at two locations — Delhi and Bangalore. ING Vysya Life Insurance is the India Golf sponsor for the event and will host the tournament at the Karnataka Golf Association course in Bangalore and the Classic Golf Resort in Delhi. Among the other sponsors are 3M India, MSN India, Air Sahara, Arvind Brands, RCI and the Oberoi Hotel..

Chief executive officers of multinational and Indian companies, and celebrities, including former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev, will play in the tournament. The proceeds from the Christel House Open Tournament in India will be utilised for the new Christel House Learning Center coming at Hennur near Bangalore. The Learning Center will provide an integrated development programme to children, encompassing their education, health, nutrition, psychological and social needs.

B B Stars Club office-bearers

New Delhi, May 12
Mr Laxmi Narayan and Mr Bachi Ram were elected president and secretary respectively of the Buddhist Blue Stars Football Club at the annul elections held in New Delhi.

Achrekar XI beat Aryavrat
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 12
Ramakant Achrekar XI defeated Aryavrat XI by seven runs in a limited-over match, as part of the annual function of the Aryavrat Sports Club, at the Roshanara Club ground.

A devastating bowling performance of 4 for 21 by Akhil Goel was the highlight of the match.

Scores: Ramakant Achrekar XI: 237 for 8 in 35 overs (Amit 45, Abhay Vij 32, Keshav Saini 37, Amit Rathi 3 for 37, Geet Arora 3 for 44). Aryavrat XI: 230 in 31.2 overs (Mukesh Goel 40, Chander Shekhar 30, Ishwik Nayak 37, Akhil Goel 4 for 21, Pradeep Chauhan 3 for 43). Akhil Goel was named the man of the match.

Aryavrat Club president Ramakant Achrekar also honoured Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi by presenting him with a silver idol of Siddhi Vinayak. Achrekar, the Dronacharya Award-winning coach, also honoured cricket coaches and cricket personalities.

Rajdhani Sports lift cricket title
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 12
A deadly 4 for 18 bowling display by medium-pacer Lalit Anand helped Rajdhani Sports beat Sumit Dogra Academy by six wickets to win the fourth BDM Cup Cricket Tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Lalit Anand was named the man of the match.

Satender Yadav won the best batsman award while Raja Sharma got the best bowler award. Joginder Sharma was adjudged the man of the tournament. Rajdhani Sports earned a cash award of Rs 25,000 while Dogra Academy received Rs 15,000.

Scores: Sumit Dogra Academy: 118 all out in 30.5 overs (Sumit Dogra 54 n o, Lalit Anand 4 for 18). Rajdhani Sports: 123 for 4 in 23.3 overs (Gaurav Mehta 27, Sonu Vaid 27, Joginder Sharma 20).

Great Eterno Yatra flagged off
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 12
The Great Eterno Yatra, comprising a 17-member rally team, which includes auto journalists, qualified technicians, back-up riders and a co-ordination team, was flagged off from the Honda motorcycle factory at Maneswar (Gurgaon) by director of sales and marketing Kojiro Iguchi.

The Great Eterno Yatra will cover a total distance of 1,882 km over 16 days, and will see the rally pass through 13 cities like Hisar, Bhatinda, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Panipat, Meerut, Kosi, Agra, Dausa, Jaipur and Behror before terminating in New Delhi.

Eterno is a tough and sleek four-stroke scooter designed exclusively for the rough and tough Indian conditions, incorporating the Honda four-stroke technology.

ADMINISTRATION

4 sarpanches placed under suspension 
Shiv Sharma

Bhiwani, May 12
Four sarpanches have been placed under suspension with immediate effect on account of charges of misappropriation against them. They have been directed to hand over accounts, record and other necessary documents of their respective panchayats to the next panch enjoying the majority.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Harpal Singh, executing the powers given under Section 51 (1) B of the Haryana Panchayati Act 1994, today suspended the sarpanches of Kairu, Lad, Hui and Dohka Hariya villages and debarred them from participating in the meetings of the panchayats. In the directions issued by the Deputy Commissioner, sarpanch Mahender Singh of Kairu village had been charged with misappropriation in development works and food for work scheme.

Earlier, the Sub-divisional officer, Mr Yashender Singh, had been appointed the inquiry officer after complaints against them. He had issued show cause notice to the sarpanches who reportedly did not file any ‘concrete reply’ in their support.

Mangli Ram, sarpanch of Dohka Hariya village, has been placed under suspension on the charge of giving financial loss by keeping cash amount of the panchayat beyond the limited time.

The sarpanch was allegedly ‘holding’ Rs 5000 since March 2000 and thus caused financial loss to the state government.

A sarpanch cannot hold more than Rs. 5000 at a time under the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act. sarpanch Ram Pyari Devi of panchayat Lad had been charged with committing embezzlement in the cash allotted under the food for work scheme. An inquiry was held by the SDM, Charkhi Dadri, Mr Dharmbir Singh. Ram Pyari Devi was issued a show cause notice and required to file her reply within ten days.

The sarpanch of Hui panchayat Sukhan Devi had also not replied against the show cause notice issued by the inquiry officer. She had been charged with committing embezzlement in various development works like construction of streets, schoolrooms and toilets.